Slashdot Mirror
Nintendo Gives No Ground In Handheld Wars
TomO wrote to mention a news item on the site Pro-G reporting on a general consumer confidence in the DS, greater than that of the PSP. From the article: "Wavemetrix, a company that specialises in working out what customers think of products, has released a new report on the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. The report, rather shockingly, reveals that the 'DS is better than the PSP in every important area.' This includes games, quality, screen and value." Relatedly a Gamespy article states: "Few could have imagined it, but the DS is becoming the most significant new console in Japan since the PS2. What started as a rumbling -- with great novelty games such as Wario and XX/YY -- has recently turned into a full-scale dual-screen uprising led by Electroplankton and Nintendogs."
I purchased a PSP first because of the initial draw of Metal Gear Acid (eh - not bad, but not that great really). Putting movies onto it lost its appeal, and right now I'm using it as an emulator with the 1.5 BIOS hacks. (Playing, oddly enough, my Game Boy Color games that I haven't finished, that I can't play on the DS).
But the DS has a ton of games. Between the Ace Phoenix, Advance Wars (drool), Castlevania (mega-drool), Animal Crossing (eh, but I know many geeks going ga-ga over it), the Coded Memories (or Another Code, whatever the name is, and I'm too damn lazy to look it up), and on throughout the year, the next six months look *very* nice between the GBA and the DS - and with my new blue DS I can play both of those.
If Sony wants the PSP to do better, it better stop focusing on the UMB movie announcements. Where are the friggin' games, Sony? The only one that looks interesting to me is "Ghost in the Shell", maybe Popocrolis and Medieval (probably not the latter). I look at the "upcoming games" list on ebworld.com, and it's looking good for the DS, and only good for the PSP if you don't plan on buying movies on DVD anymore (and transferring them to my Memory Stick Duo 512 MB).
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
Theyre both fine systems, but the DS is really the only one that has catered at all to the portable market.
Who is surprised?
On one hand we have a game system that plays homemade videos, a proprietary movie format, mp3s, and games.
On the other hand we have a game system that plays... games. And not even regular games, but weird new stuff that can literally only be done on this one system
People have gone on about the PSP's lack of quick games. The DS is perfect for this, and developers seem to be tailoring games to this philosophy. Dont have much time? How about a "2-Minute War" in Meteos? A quick time trial in Kirby? An attempt at a new high-score in the falling portion of Yoshi? Really the only game that I can use like this on the PSP is Lumines, but Lumines was meant to be played for a long period of time, not in short relays like Meteos.
I keep my PSP at home where it is safe and where I can sit down after work and play. I keep my DS in my briefcase where I can take it out during a break (or slow work day) and play (and then quickly hide if a customer comes through).
As as been said, one of the many problems facing the PSP is its lack of viable "pick up and play" games. Those short wondrous games you can just power on, hit start, and do something. Exactly why this is so damaging hasn't been hit on the head yet.
While huge, involved games are the power houses of the home console, the environment there is rather different. While there are a significant portion of people who do not have time to plunk into Final Fantasy XXIXIIVICIXIVIXM, a larger number of home console gamers have hours to waste on RPGs, and involved action titles.
The handheld market is the opposite. You have games there that take time to complete, and ask for a greater time investment per session (any Legend of Zelda game for example). However, the most common use of a handheld fits into the "I need to kill a half hour as I wait for X" category.
When most of your titles for a handheld fit the home console demographic better than the handheld one, you've got a problem. This is what Sony is facing. Nintendo hasn't dominated the handheld market for no reason whatsoever, they understand the demographic and have used that knowledge to well.
The PSP has sold enough units to potentially bounce back. It just needs to rework the battle plan a bit. Unfortunately, things have been set up to be an uphill battle.
Like all other things, we'll have to wait and see what happens.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Time and time again, we've seen what goes into making a handheld sell:
1) Price
2) Baterry Life
3) Portability (size and protected screen are big factors here)
4) Games - particular ones that can be played in short bursts
It really is no surprise to me that DS is outperforming PSP in marketshare and apparently mindshare, given these factors. (Of course, given these factors, I still maintain that the GBA SP is the best portable system on the market).